42 comments:

I love how Colbert snarkily says he "never disagreed" with Bush's policy, he who righteously tore the President (and the mainstream press) big gaping new ones at the White House Press Correspondents' Dinner.

I love how Colbert snarkily says he "never disagreed" with Bush's policy, he who righteously tore the President (and the mainstream press) big gaping new ones at the White House Press Correspondents' Dinner.

I love how you think Cobert is someone to be actually taken seriously.

Unlike regime propaganda minister Robert Gibbs, Joe Biden was at least able to give a straight answer. Kudos to him. It was funny as hell watching Gibbs squirm around Gretchen Carlson's questions the other day about whether Obama would give Bush any credit for the success of the Surge in Iraq.

As someone who was against the Iraqi war and as someone without BDS, let me add my thanks to the VP too. It was the decent and right thing to say, and that he seemed sincere in saying it, brought a smile to my face. On the other hand, my mind searches for others in the present administration whose answer to the same question wouldn't piss me off. And I come up blank. Granted, 'tis my imagination at work here, and I sincerely hope I would be proven wrong, but that I'm confident I wouldn't, tells me something about the Obama administration's rhetoric over the past few years.

Heh. Always. Always. Everyone asks why we can't bring the troops home since their work, putatively, is done.

So what work are our troops doing in Germany? Japan? ITALY? Why not bring them home from there?

It's the weirdest thing in the world how folks are content to leave troops where they're not needed at all, but GET THEM THE HELL HOME from where, arguably, they alone can make a huge difference for the better.

So what work are our troops doing in Germany? Japan? ITALY? Why not bring them home from there?

Why not indeed. If it were up to me, every single one would be brought home. Oh and the next time there was some massive tsunami or earthquake or other act of Allah, the hourly rate for a carrier task group providing humanitarian aid or airlift service is $1,000,000 per hour plus per diem.

@trooper...i actually met someone who is reasonably intelligent on most things who thought Colbert wasn't performing tongue in cheek and that he is ultra right wing. i think he has a lot of people fooled.

The Democrats have a "civility" problem this time around too, see 2002 election, i.e. the Wellstone funeral, that sits atop the "its the economy stupid" problem. This week Obama has been doubling down on both the surface and substance. Being as partisan and petulant as ever and not coming up with anything new in face of overwhelming evidence of the need not to go down the same well-worn Keynesian path again. Biden just went the other way on the surface problem. Hillary just went the other way on the economy with a statement on the debt. So, sinking ship, bald men and women to the life boats first? Or mixed message grab bag, as an attempt to be all things to all opinions? Or, simply politics as usual--No one's ever on the same page.

Colbert is a joke (not a bad thing in his profession): a more realistic - and funnier - version of Zippy The Pinhead. I still think, rather then politics, the elasticity of spiritual belief was a better platform for his humor, back on The Daily Show. His job description does not include honesty or intelligence on anyone's part.

It's only by the tiniest of degrees that I can stand to listen to good old Joe "Hoof in Mouth" Bidum for any length of time as compare to Barry. When Barry is on the stump I usually run not walk to the radio or the tv to turn off the sound because listening to him is like biting on tin foil. Bidum is almost as bad. I do like the comment about his motel sign smile that screams vacancy. Well put.

I think one possible reason for Vice President Biden's gracious comment is the fact that his son served over there in Iraq. Families of veterans may be more likely to "get it" about why their loved ones were over there, etc. As anyone who has seen those pictures or video clips of the Bushes greeting returning troops will tell you, Biden was speaking the truth about Bush's high regard for the troops, and the fact that the feeling for most of them was mutual.

"Families of veterans may be more likely to 'get it' about why their loved ones were over there, etc."

Why are American loved ones over there? Certainly not to "defend our freedom" or "protect our country" or any of the other oft-repeated sentiments customarily invoked to explain our doing violence in other lands. Not if the words "defend" and "protect" have any meaning, as Afghanistan was never a threat to us and never intended to be, (and neither was or did Iraq).

Actually, no war we have fought abroad in our nation's history has been necessary or has been "defensive" or "protective" in nature, or necessary--World War II aside, (and there are those who would argue against that war as having been necessary).

rasqual - "So what work are our troops doing in Germany? Japan? ITALY? Why not bring them home from there?

It's the weirdest thing in the world how folks are content to leave troops where they're not needed at all, but GET THEM THE HELL HOME from where, arguably, they alone can make a huge difference for the better."

The writer has no clue about military logistics, need for 1st class medical care facilities closer to the combat zone than the USA, or the need to maintain a stabilizing/reconnaissance presence in critical areas.

We are in Germany, Japan, Italy and a number of other places because the military conducts vital missions from there we cannot do as well from Ft Sill Oklahoma or San Diego Naval Base.

"Bring the troops home!!" has a certain vapid appeal to those who do not understand Landsruhe and the wounded soldiers who have their lives saved and prompt care preventing avoidable permanent wound disabilities... Or, Aviano's role in stabilizing the Balkans, how Kadema AFB monitors China, Russia's Far East, and the Nork conventional and nuclear threat.